The church interior features a preserved false barrel vault ceiling with painted decorations from the 18th century. The interior features a preserved false barrel vault ceiling with painted decorations as well as Baroque and Rococo fixtures and fittings.

History

Within the territory of Starogród, there was a fortified settlement from the early Middle Ages dating back to 1232. In the 13th century, a castle of the Teutonic Order was built in the village, which then served as a seat of commanders of the Order until 1454. From the late 14th century until the partitions of Poland, Starogród was owned by bishops of Chełmno and was an administrative centre for a large complex of the bishops’ estate called the Starogród demesne.

The Church of St Barbara (formerly the Church of St Peter) was erected in 1754, with the funds provided by Wojciech Leski, bishop of Chełmno, on the site occupied by the former – likely Gothic – church. It was thoroughly renovated in the late 19th century and in 1907. Severely damaged during World War II, the church was reconstructed in 1946. In recent years, conservation and revitalisation work was carried out in the church with regard to the interior, including but not limited to the main altarpiece, the side altarpieces, the pulpit, and painted ceiling decorations in the chancel. In 2008, the roof was renovated.

Description

The church is located in the northern part of the village, by the road to Chełmno. The land around the church and the graveyard is enclosed with a brick wall. The church itself was built in the Late Baroque style and is not oriented towards the east. The chancel faces north, terminating in a semi-hexagon, and adjoining the chancel there are two symmetrical, rectangular rooms – the sacristy from the west and a storage room from the east. The nave is wider than the chancel and has a rectangular floor plan, with two chapels situated symmetrically in the centre of the side walls and two square towers built in the corners of the south façade. The main body is covered with a gable roof, the chancel and the chapels feature multi-pitched roofs, and the sacristy and the storage room are covered with a shed roof which constitutes an extension of the roof above the chancel. The tower cupolas consist of four corrugated sections crowned with flags displaying the coats of arms of Bishop Leski and the dates 1758 and 1948.

The church is a brick building with plastered walls on a low plinth and its façades are topped with a pronounced profiled crowning cornice. The two-storey façade features towers which project ahead of the wall; in the centre of the ground floor, there is a portal topped with a semicircular arch, above which there is a marble foundation plaque with the date 1759, coats of arms of the Nałęcz family of Bishop Wojciech Leski, and in the upper section there is a niche with a sculpture of Christ the Good Shepherd. The gable is crowned with a split pediment, which features a retable with a niche and the Eucharistic Lamb cut out of metal sheets.

The interior features false vaults with a lowered rise, with the ceiling of the nave reconstructed in 1946. The crypts below the chancel and the chapels feature flat ceilings.

The annexes and the chapels feature sail vaults.  The choir gallery between the towers is in the Baroque Revival style and was constructed in 1946 based on a design by Jerzy Remer.

The ceiling of the chancel features preserved rococo painted decorations from the 2nd half of the 18th century, likely created by Krzysztof Chamski, a painter from Chełmno (who also created the painted decorations in churches in Młyniec, Toruń District, and Szynych, Grudziądz District), which depict the Lamb of the Apocalypse and allegories of the seven sacraments. The painted decorations belong to the most valuable of the sort across the Chełmno Land. Inside the church, there are historic fixtures and fittings, which include notably the main altarpiece in the Late Baroque style, with a relief depicting St Barbara, an angel and a youth in the middle section.

The side altarpieces from 1730, designed in the Regency style, feature paintings depicting the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sts Roch, Sebastian and George; they were made by craftsman from the Toruń circle and originally placed in the Church of Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in Toruń, then moved to Starogród in 1946 as a donation from Bishop K. Kowalski from Pelplin. The Rococo pulpit from c. 1760 features a canopy topped with a crown with putti. The Baroque baptismal font from the 18th century is chased, with the serpent and the skull of Adam at the base. The octagonal marble holy water font dates back to the 17th century. The tombstone of Bishop Wojciech Leski from 1758 is made of stone and his rococo epitaph plaque, dated at c. 1758, in the shape of a sarcophagus is crowned with a portrait of the late bishop positioned on a corbel.

The church is open during service.

Marzenna Stocka, National Heritage Board of Poland, Regional Branch in Toruń, 05-02-2018

Bibliography

• Diecezja toruńska. Historia i teraźniejszość, Vol. 4, Dekanat chełmiński, Toruń 1996, pp. 147-153
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, Vol. XI: Województwo bydgoskie, issue 4: Powiat chełmiński, Tadeusz Chrzanowski and Marian Kornecki (eds.), Warszawa 1976, pp. 103-107